How to Drain/Refill Automatic Transmission

Mine is properly filled, next time I drain it I’ll measure it out closely and see how much I get out of it.

 

You must not have a trans cooler.

 

I just hit 100k on my 2010 v6 auto 4x4.. what's the latest concensus on the appropriate trans service, if any? Mostly highway miles barely any towing to speak of. Im the original owner and wanted to catch up on maint to keep this thing for another few 100ks.

 

I don’t think there is much concensus here.

 

Lol yeah it seems to be all over the place. Some say at 100k do a flush, some say never flush, some say drop pan some dont. Some say the dealers know nothing, some say go to dealer.. its like analysis paralysis

Edit: was thinking that doing a pan drop and filter replacement would be a good compromise between "dont touch it" and "flush everything".. does anyone have the torque specs for everything and should i use valvoline maxlife synthetic atf, toyota ws, or something else? If the existing fluid looks crappy it may make sense to do a flush i guess

 

I have always used Valvoline Maxlife with good results

 

Thank you! What do you suggest regarding type of service? If i drop the pan to clean the magnets, what do i clean it with? Carb cleaner? Brake parts cleaner? Thanks!

 

My yearly maintenance will be just drain the pan and add 3.2 qts with temp check. Easy and fluid is always being refreshed, to a point.

 

I did my 2010's change just under 90,000 miles, as I recall. I think it was mentioned in this thread (a couple years ago). Toyota recommends it done at 100,000 miles, so it is time to do it. You don't want the thing to fail, do you? The amigo (Crom here on TW) who performed the change for me followed this procedure* and it went very well. I am now at 112,000 miles and the tranny shifts perfectly, still. Most of my miles in 2017 were in Baja, mountains and deserts, summer and winter, sea level to 9,280 ft. The trip reports are here in the Off Roading section.
Here is his (Crom) post on the process to change the fluid: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...d-and-adventures.362772/page-43#post-11372529

 

I have never dropped the pan. I just drain and fill

 

Thank you. What kind of change did you do?

 

Thank you!

 

Transmission fluid flush, here is the details from the TW member who did it: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...d-and-adventures.362772/page-43#post-11372529

 

Here is my post from April, 2016, detailing the transmission fluid change from my perspective as the truck's owner:

 

Thank you very much! Ill be doing this in the next few weeks.

 

Per comment from the first post
- This service is recommended at 60,000 miles* in the United States. *Updated by Toyota November 2009

 

Toyota dropped the recommendation back to 60k miles under severe service. A yearly drain and fill is most likely overkill, but too often is better than not often enough.

 

Toyota recommneds replacing the ATF in our Taco every 60K under "Special Operating Conditions" - severe service usage. For normal operation, the recommendation is to inspect the ATF every 30K. Toyota does not define what it means to "inspect". To some it means to check the ATF level; to me, it means to drain a sample and physically check the ATF for level of contaminants and replace accordingly.

I'm averaging a flush every 80K. Replaced the filter at the 2nd flush. No chemicals were used to clean the pan. I did use wipes to wife off the last bit of ATF slush in the pan and magnets. Refill with Valvoline MaxLife. Pan bolts torque spec is around 50 in-lbs. This felt too tight for me; so, I torque'd them to 30 in-lbs, what the spec is for all my other Toyota vehicles. Pan is the same gauge; so, I don't see why the Taco bolts should be tighter.

 

I've done one drain and fill then one full flush dropped pan and replaced filter at130k.

 

My 2001 was done at the recommended 60,000 miles (twice). My 2005 was done at 100,000 miles at the dealership, which was the recommended time. My 2010 also had the same transmission and was pretty sure still 100,000 miles? Synthetic stuff and a sealed case, etc. At any rate I did it just before 90,000 miles and all is good.